Anyone have Yokohama or Kumo?

I have to decide tires and I've read various board member comments about many brands but not Yokohama AVS models and Kumo ultra high performance. I have continentals that need replacing on the rear but I may change all 4 since the contis will only last 10k miles. My requirements are good handling but need a quiet ride and longer tread life. Thanks for the input.

Hey Bob how are things? I personally would not put Yokohama's or Kumo tire on my 911. I've just changed my rears, Michelin Pilot Sports. Although they are great tires, next year I'm going to try the Brigstone Poteza's. On my 2001 I went through about 4 sets of Perelli P-Zeros and I really loved them, but man they wear very quickly. Rob

If you are into 'total performance,' you wouldnt be considering these b/c they are not 'as good' as some of the others out there. That said, they are good tires, much quiter, will last slightly longer, and are at a much better price point.

I have Yoko AVS ES100s on my Boxster, and am a "spirited" driver. That having been said, I would definitely buy another set. They are a great value, look great and hold up just fine. I got better grip from them than the stock Contis, and they are great in rain as well. Unfortunately, they don't make em in 295/30R18s for my 911 rears.

Bob, is performance in the wet important to you?

I have the Kuhmos and am very happy with them. They don't stick as well as some of the other brands but they're quiet, smooth, and on my daily driver C2, after 8000 miles the rears still look almost new. Tom

Thanks for the feedback guys, like many options, tires appear to be subjective. I guess I want good performance in wet and dry, quite ride and long mileage but don't want to spend 1k on tires. I can't see spending money on Continentals when they won't last very long and I know they get noisy. I had them on my Boxster and they screamed at 11k miles. I'll continue to research and will probably end up spending $900 to $1000 anyway.

I replaced the Continentals on my MY01 C2 with Kumho Supra 712. Continentals were absolutely shot at 12k miles. The Kumhos are just starting to get noisy at 12k miles....a few DE days and they'll be done. As my driving skills (and speed) improved, I did notice that I needed to be very careful under hard braking not to invoke ABS.....Tirerack tests confirm my subjective opinion on braking. I will replace Kumhos with either Bridgestone or Michelins for next set. Conclusion? Good long lasting tire for street and for novice DE at a modest price, but as driver skill improves, upgrade is necessary.

Bob, A few years ago, I followed the Kumho bandwagon over on a popular Boxster Board, and put Ecsta 712's on my Boxster. My previous tire was Bridgestone S02 Pole Position. When I was scheduling with my Porsche dealer to have the Kumhos installed, the Service Advisor recommended that I not put them on the car. He told me he had many customers who had bought them and then came back to have them removed. I didn't take his advice, choosing to rely on the recommendations of the members of the Boxster Board. It was a huge mistake. The 712's have limited dry grip. They flat spot horrendously. They squeal unmercifully. They lose grip badly under braking. I fully regretted buying a non-premium tire. I will never again limit the performance of my Porsche by using non-premium tires. It's worth the extra $600 or so to have the best tire I can buy. I'm now running Pilot Sports, and they are fantastic. Kumho does make a very good track tire, and just won one of the classes at Sebring this past weekend. But the street tires are junk, IMHO. YMMV.

Thanks, this info is very helpful, anyone else have experience with Yokohama?

I've got the AVS Sports with about 8k miles on them now. Basically a fine tire with excellent dry grip and above average wet grip. Unfortunately, at this point the rear's (295mm) have the typical inside edge wear and almost no tread remaining while the rest of the tire has plenty. It also seems like they're getting noisier (or I'm just expecting them too!). My next full set will be Michelin PS2's just so I can have a baseline of the "best" to compare - they really are not that much more. On the other hand I've read the AVS Sport replacement is about to be introduced...

When you get a chance....get down on your hands and knees and look at the inside half of the rear tires. Then report back and tell us if the tread looks like new. If it does, your camber setting is not set to spec.

I went out and shot this today. BTW, the tires I have are the Kuhmo Estca ASX

That's a front tire, right? If it's the rear that is exceptionally good wear!

Right rear. I keep pressure at 36ft 40rr.

Just because the tire is in this condition after 8k miles does not mean the alignment specs are not correct. The Kumho Kuhmo Estca ASX is considered an all season tire and has better wear ratings and should wear better than most ultra performance summer only tires.

That doesn't matter. Because of the 1 degree or more negative camber setting, all tires will wear on the inside half more than the outside half. There is nothing you can do to prevent this without changing the camber settings. That does not mean that the inside of the tires are worn to their limit, but they will wear out before the outside does.

Here ya go, took it tonight in the garage

Tires look good for 8,000 miles, but note the wear on the inside half. You probably have 4 - 5,000 more safe miles left. Check the inside every now and then for piece of mind. The biggest indicator that the tires are past the limit, other than looking at them, is that you will get wobble in the backend when driving in the rain. As soon as the inside half of the tires get to the belts (which seems to happen overnight) wet driving will be quite exciting. You won't notice it when the roads are dry.

Well they have 11,000 miles and I don't think I'll wait until I see the threads. These tires are so noisy it distracts from the pleasure of driving the car

I am not disagreeing with your assessment that the inside should wear more quickly than the rest given a proper alignment (especially in lots of straight highway driving). However, an all season tire such as the ASX has a much longer tread life than say a Contisport Contact2, therefore, during the first 8K miles the difference will/may not be as pronounced as with the Contisports during the same mileage where the tire may be completely worn out because of the % of tread used. Here is an example of what I am talking about� The 1st picture is from a Bridgestone LM-25 (snow tire) that I just took off my car (left side is the inside edge). The tire has about 6-7K miles on it. The tread looks almost �new� (very surprising to me btw). The 2nd picture is of a Contact2 I just put back on with about 8.5k miles on it (and in need of replacement very soon). You will notice that the inside edge of the Contisports is more worn than the outside�.but on the LM-25�s the wear is not noticeable. A very close inspection of the LM-25 does reveal the inside is worn more but it is not as pronounced yet because such a large % of the tread is still left.

If you can afford a Porsche, you should not be playing with anything less than PS2s and S-03s and S-02s on the street.

I find the Potenza RE750 a better street tire than the PS2 and S-03. Quieter and better all around traction; wet and dry. But we each have our preferences.

I had Yoko ES100s on my Audi S4 and they were one of the worst tire I've ever owned. Dunlops are THE worst.

This is definitely the case. Scared the crap out of me the first time it happened! When the tread gets low, you hydroplane like crazy. I was driving to work after it had rained. The road was mostly dry, but there was a 20ft section of road that had a lot of water on it. I swear I slid across that 20ft. I don't think my tires touched pavement. I just put on new Potenza RE750s and just the same drive again in the rain with no problems. This is my first time with the 750's. Past tires have been SO2's. So far so good.

I think your like the RE 750's. I have had several sets. They have great traction, wet and dry, hold the corners extremely well and are reasonably quiet. I get about 10,000 - 12,000 miles out of my rears and about 30,000 out of the fronts (pushing it). They balance out perfectly every time too. Let me know how you like them after some spirited driving.

I hope you're not grouping the Dunlop Winter M2's in that category. I've had the same set of M2's for 3 years, and they are showing no signs of wear and are fantastic in the snow and rain. However, I've never used Dunlop performance tires.

I might try the Yoko AVS Sport if your looking for good rain traction

Yoko AVS Sports are horrible in comparison to S-03s/PS2s. PS2s are definitely the king. I haven't gotten a chance to check out the RE750s, but I suspect they're a rung below the S-03/S-02.

I can't make a Porsche based opinion on the Kumho Kuhmo Estca ASX's but my Corvette experience was fairly decent. I put close to 20k miles on the Kuhmo's before I traded in the '01 Corvette coupe and the tires performed great during that time. The traction was good both dry and wet and the tread wear was amazing. At 20k miles they still had plenty of life in them. They were a bit noisy it seemed, but I think that had to do more with the lack of sound insulation in the Corvette than anything else. When the current set of rubber wears out on my 996, I'm planning on replacing them with the Kuhmos.

nope. I have no experience with winter shoes. Most of my experience were with the summer rubber.

okay, I decided. I'll replace the worn continentals in the rear with the oem tires. I save $600 over replacing all 4 and it seems like most brands only last 10k miles anyway. Thanks for everyones input.